Police arrested several people Wednesday night at a protest in Brooklyn against the decision not to charge Rochester, N.Y., police officers in the death of Daniel Prude, according to a new report.
Dozens of demonstrators turned up to McCarren Park in Williamsburg around 7 p.m. to protest a grand jury vote not to indict the police officers who reportedly placed a “spit hood” over Prude’s head and pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes.
When police detained him last March, Prude had been running through the streets naked while trying to spit on people and announcing he had COVID. The police were called by Prude’s brother, who became concerned after Prude ran out of his house.
Roughly 300 police officers responded to the protest on Wednesday, according to the New York Post. At least nine people were arrested, witnesses reportedly told the news outlet. Police confirmed that there were some arrests.
Witnesses told the outlet that several protesters attacked pedestrians and spray painted a cab on South 4th Street and Driggs Avenue near the Williamsburg Bridge.
New York attorney general Letitia James opened an investigation into Prude’s death after his family in September released video footage of police pinning him to the ground while he was in handcuffs with a mesh hood over his head.
“We concluded that there was sufficient evidence surrounding Mr. Prude’s death to warrant presenting the case to a grand jury, and we presented the most comprehensive case possible,” James said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the grand jury decision.
Roughly 150 protesters took to the streets of Rochester Tuesday night. Though police say demonstrators ”climbed over the barricades and gathered at the front door of the building,” the crowd ultimately dispersed around 11:45 p.m. and no arrests, injuries, or destruction of property were reported.